The great Arab diplomatic battle for control of the Red Sea coast

Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are allies of circumstance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are moving into East Africa so as to combat the Houthi rebels in Yemen more effectively. Behind their shared wish to control the Red Sea, however, both are courting countries in the region in the service of their own interests.

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How Musa Bihi is handling the Berbera base issue

Military bases a token of UAE-Turkish rivalry for clout

With Turkey poised to open a training camp for the Somali National Army (SNA) in Mogadishu the United Arab Emirates is equally building several military sites in Somalia. The two countries are locked in a struggle for influence against a [. [...]

HORN OF AFRICAUNITED ARAB EMIRATES13/01/2017

Will the United Arab Emirates control the Red Sea’s African coastline?

Already running commercial ports in Djibouti and Berbera, the UAE are developing more and more military installations on the Red Sea, to Ethiopia’s consternation. [...]

Khartoum organises war in Darfur with Riyadh’s support

Amidst a high media blaze, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir went on an official visit to Riyadh for a meeting with King Salman bin Abdelaziz on 24 October. The Indian Ocean Newsletter has learnt that this visit was preceded on [. [...]

The war in Yemen has resulted in a recomposition of Arab-African alliances

Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are allies of circumstance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are moving into East Africa so as to combat the Houthi rebels in Yemen more effectively. Behind their shared wish to control the Red Sea, however, both are courting countries in the region in the service of their own interests. [...]

US-Arab cold war in the Horn of Africa

Ethiopia, a staunch ally of the United States, will have its work cut out to contain the hostility of its Eritrean and Egyptian neighbours, who in turn have support from certain Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [. [...]

Naval chief Sultan on way out

Gulf of Aden, arms supermarket

In recent weeks, seizures of arms shipments on fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden have abounded, although the investigations by Western and Somalian authorities have not been able to identify the organised networks. Whatever their origins, their country of [. [...]

Difficult discussions between Riyadh and Houthi

Despite some headway that was made during discreet negotiations between Yemen's Houthi rebels and the Saudi Arabian government earlier this month, a resolution to the conflict seems a long way off. [...]

IOG gets support from Gulf States to counter UAE

Failing to break the ice with the UAE, President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is trying to thaw his country’s relations with Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar. IOG has managed to win the Gulf countries back to his country, using Djibouti’s strategic [. [...]

Two exiled ministers reach Aden via Assab

Clash with Abu Dhabi remodels regional alliances

Following the altercation in Djibouti on 27 April between Wahib Moussa Kalinleh, the commander of Forces aériennes djiboutiennes (FAD – Djibouti air force), and Ali Al Shihi, Vice Consul of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Djibouti and the UAE broke [. [...]

Storm warning over DP World Berbera contract

For DP World (DPW), the contract it signed on 9 May to run Berbera Port (ION 1427 and click HERE to see our special report) is primarily a $442 million industrial operation. But in the Horn of Africa, it is [. [...]

Behind the scenes of the DP World contract on Berbera Port

Bollore, MSC and DP World all after the Berbera contract

A new twist in the saga to obtain the concession and contract for the management of the port of Berbera (click here to read our special report)! The proposal by the French operator Bollore Africa Logistics (BAL) was almost buried [. [...]